


The Mess

by RandomBella



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Brightwell, F/M, Flash Fic, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24184861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomBella/pseuds/RandomBella
Summary: Dani takes Malcom home.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42
Collections: Fic Journal of the Plague Year





	The Mess

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to anyone who has ever felt like a mess (and right now, I think a lot of people are feeling that way). The next you feel like that, remember this.

As had been happening often lately, Dani had driven Malcolm home tonight. As they made their way to the front door, Malcolm treasured the moment. There weren’t many people who could accept as fully as Dani seemed to.

She had seen him at his most… unstable. She had met, and dealt with, his entire family, including his father, the *serial killer*. She never seemed to judge him for his weird tangential rants, nor did she seem scared off by the darkness he lived in.

She simply accepted him. ALL of him. And that was such a gift.

“Do you want to come in for a minute?” Malcolm asked, unlocking the door. He turned, waiting for her reply.

He could see the conflict in her eyes, before the decision was made. “I wish I could, but I have some things I need to do.” 

It was the conflict that drew him to her eyes, but once there, he seemed to get trapped. The moment dragged on, as they both lingered on the doorstep.

A part of his mind that wasn’t focused on her face began cataloging the autonomic tells it found there. Not for the first time, he saw attraction.

If Dani knew what to look for, she would undoubtedly read the same in him. He had never addressed these tells; he knew only too well that physical attraction and actual romantic interest were not the same thing.

And so he had never responded to everything unspoken between them. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), not acknowledging something doesn’t make it go away. Apparently, tonight was the night he could no longer ignore it. Tonight was the night he had to respond to the palpable More between them.

“You know I’m a mess, right?” She was a light in his life, and he cared too much about her to drag her into his darkness.

Dani laughed, and the tension was broken. For now. “So are Jackson Pollock paintings. Doesn’t make them any less valuable.” She smiled at him. “Goodnight, Bright.”

As she made her way back to the car, all he could do was stare after her, amazed.

A gift indeed.


End file.
